Oh look, it’s that time again – Mercury is backtracking for a few weeks. And yes, I’m excited about it.
For all the scary reputation it has, to the point where even people who don’t believe in astrology know it’s supposed to be a problem, Mercury retrograde always turns out to be my best three week block for putting things right and getting shit done. In particular, things that were muddled up or went wrong at a ‘normal’ time.
Maybe it does cause chaos for some people – my eldest son usually experiences a minor catastrophe (his chart is very Gemini/Mercury dominant). And in my experience train stations during Mercury retrograde involve an announcement every few seconds about delays, cancellations, and platform changes (yes, even more than usual). But my enthusiasm cannot be unique to me, and the benefit is certainly available to anyone – any astrology website will tell you it’s a period you should spend organising, being more careful, slowing down. The point is it’s not a good time to make big decisions, or start big projects, or like, buy a house, and that communication and travel could go a bit wrong – but if you slow down and pay attention, it should be ok.
Still, it doesn’t always sink in unless someone says ‘LOOK, they’re serious – it really is a good thing’ so I guess I’m whispering into the void of the internet in case anyone needs to see how Mercury retrograde works in a real life way.
I think it comes naturally to me to feel excited about a chance to organise and finish jobs, because I have three planets in Virgo in the 10th house – Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Virgo is the Mercury-ruled, detail-oriented earth sign of service. Virgo loves getting organised. Saturn is my dominant planet – the firm but fair teacher who will kick your ass when necessary, but when you finally get it right, the rewards are great – and is ruled by Capricorn. Capricorn also rules the 10th house of achievements, and of course Capricorn is the most success-driven of the earth signs. 10th house Saturn is going to be a workaholic even if it isn’t in Virgo – but Virgo is useful for editing and writing, being ruled by Mercury, and those are the things I do. Mars is the planet of action, Jupiter of expansion. Put it all together, and naturally it’s writing and editing – in other words, work – (and sometimes doctor appointments, because Virgo covers health, too) that I’m sorting out each time Mercury retrograde rolls around.
Anyway, whatever the reason, I love it. People get excited about eclipses and full moons, I honest to all the gods love Mercury retrograde. It helps me out. It forces me to sit down and get organised in areas where I was experiencing difficulty or slow growth. It could do this for you too – whatever your astrological placements – though it might be trickier for some to slow down than others (but it isn’t impossible – it was hard for me, too, because I love being busy). Either way, to me there is no point being interested in anything esoteric / occult / spiritual / of the woo woo persuasion if you’re just going to see it as doom and gloom and impossible to change – these things can and should be used to learn and evolve.
Anyway. While Mercury is moving backwards, this March as an editor I’ll be publishing the extremely delayed Changelings & Fairy Rings anthology at Three Drops, and finishing up the beautiful pamphlet Mythos by Samuel J Fox (also for publication at Three Drops). As a writer, I’ll finally be doing my guest reading at Shaken in Sheep Town that I was meant to do about two years ago (my Leo North Node is in the 10th house too – and I do like a bit of attention for my creative efforts at times).
And maybe the most ironic part of this is I’m also writing on my “new” blog for the first time since I started almost three months ago. Miracles do happen. Thanks, Mercury.
Between twilight and waking 